Bouteloua


Bouteloua is a genus of plants in the grass family Poaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as grama grass.

Description

Taxonomy

The genus was first described by Mariano Lagasca in 1805. It was named for Claudio and Esteban Boutelou, 19th-century Spanish botanists. David Griffiths produced a 1912 monograph on the genus.

Species

Species of Bouteloua include:
  • Bouteloua alamosana Vasey – Mesoamerica
  • Bouteloua americana Scribn. - American grama – southern Mexico, Central America, West Indies, northern South America
  • Bouteloua annua Swallen – Baja California Sur, Sonora
  • Bouteloua arizonica Cuellar & Columbus
  • Bouteloua aristidoides Griseb. - needle grama – United States ; Mexico, South America, Aruba
  • Bouteloua barbata Lag. - six-weeks grama – United States, Mexico
  • Bouteloua bracteata Columbus – Michoacán
  • Bouteloua breviseta Vasey – United States, Mexico
  • Bouteloua chasei Swallen
  • Bouteloua chondrosioides Benth. ex S.Watson - sprucetop grama – United States ; Mesoamerica
  • Bouteloua curtipendula Torr. - sideoats grama – widespread in USA, Canada, Mexico
  • Bouteloua dactyloides Columbus - buffalograss – USA, Canada, Mexico
  • Bouteloua dimorpha Columbus – Great Plains in USA, Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Trinidad
  • Bouteloua distans Swallen – Mexico
  • Bouteloua disticha Benth. – from southern Mexico to Ecuador; also Cuba, Galápagos
  • Bouteloua diversispicula Columbus
  • Bouteloua elata Reeder & C.Reeder
  • Bouteloua eludens Griffiths – USA, Mexico
  • Bouteloua erecta Columbus
  • Bouteloua eriopoda Torr. – United States, Mexico
  • Bouteloua eriostachya Reeder
  • Bouteloua gracilis Lag. ex Griffiths - blue grama – Great Plains in USA, Canada, Mexico
  • Bouteloua griffithsii Columbus
  • Bouteloua herrera-arrietae P.M.Peterson & Romasch.
  • Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. – USA, Mexico, Guatemala
  • Bouteloua johnstonii Swallen – Coahuila
  • Bouteloua juncea A.S.Hitchc. - lamilla – Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico
  • Bouteloua karwinskyi Griffiths
  • Bouteloua kayi Warnock
  • Bouteloua media Gould & Kapadia – from central Mexico to Uruguay
  • Bouteloua megapotamica Kuntze – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia
  • Bouteloua mexicana Columbus – Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras
  • Bouteloua multifida Columbus – from Sonora to Oaxaca
  • Bouteloua nervata Swallen – Hidalgo, México State
  • Bouteloua parryi Griffiths – Parry's Grama, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Northern Mexico
  • Bouteloua pectinata – tall grama, eyebrow grass – Texas
  • Bouteloua pedicellata Swallen – Puebla, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Tlaxcala, Nuevo León, Veracruz
  • Bouteloua polymorpha Columbus – from Durango to Oaxaca
  • Bouteloua purpurea Gould & Kapadia – Guanajuato, D.F., San Luis Potosí, México State, Hidalgo, Querétaro
  • Bouteloua radicosa Griffiths - purple grama – USA, Mexico
  • Bouteloua ramosa Scribn. ex Vasey
  • Bouteloua reederorum Columbus – Durango, Puebla, Zacatecas, Oaxaca
  • Bouteloua reflexa Swallen – Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nayarit
  • Bouteloua repens Scribn. & Merr. - slender grama – Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Mesoamerica, Colombia, Venezuela, West Indies
  • Bouteloua rigidiseta Hitchc. - Texas grama – New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mexico
  • Bouteloua scabra Columbus – from Hidalgo to Honduras
  • Bouteloua scorpioides Lag.
  • Bouteloua simplex Lag. Much of southwestern and central United States, Central America, western South America
  • Bouteloua stolonifera Scribn. – San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas
  • Bouteloua swallenii Columbus – from El Salvador to Venezuela
  • Bouteloua triaena Scribn. – from Sinaloa to Guatemala
  • Bouteloua trifida Thunb. – Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Mexico
  • Bouteloua uniflora Vasey - Nealley grama, oneflower grama – Utah, Texas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Nuevo León, Querétaro, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas
  • Bouteloua vaneedenii Pilg. – Cuba, Leeward Islands, Venezuela
  • Bouteloua varia Columbus
  • Bouteloua warnockii Gould & Kapadia - Warnock's grama – New Mexico, Texas, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas
  • Bouteloua williamsii Swallen – Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras

    Distribution

Bouteloua is found only in the Americas, with most diversity centered in the southwestern United States.
It also occurs in the Ciénaga de Zapata Biosphere Reserve of Cuba.

Uses

Many species are important livestock forage, especially Bouteloua gracilis.